To the OP who asked about HW or a local prep, I'd say this:

You're not going to get the same facilities/small class sizes etc at HW as you would at the likes of Thomas's/EH/Broomwood etc.

You are however, going to get broadly speaking exactly the same middle class families, bar the odd one or two.

So if you are middle class and professional and want your child to be in school with similar children, then yes, you will get that Honeywell and Belleville.

You won't get it at any other state school in the area which is why most parents BTC will only really consider HW or BV in terms of state options.

When I was at Honeywell, the majority of parents I ever got to know where all shockingly middle class. There was one family who lived on Honeywell Road who were in a council house. What you also can find is that once the kids are in the school, the family can then leave the area, and are still allowed to stay at the school. Which rather defeats the idea of being at a local school, and lots of cars dropping off. It also means that anyone moving into the area may not get a place.

I don't know if they still have sibling priority but I know when our second started at Honeywell, there were so many siblings joining that year - leaving far fewer places for new pupils, which also means an even smaller catchment area.

To be fair, not eveyone has just moved into the area, so may well have not paid the £1m mentioned, and some live in flats, but there is definately more parents who are well off than not.

right so exactly as I thought - if you're at Belleville or Honeywell in a class of 30, there are about 3 kids on free school meals and about 27 living in £1.5m houses (or £1m flats). So it's not really that diverse is it!

Data from the Ofsted Compare schools tool: % of pupils eligible for free school meals in the past 6 years at HW and neighbouring school:

Honeywell Infant 4.4
Honeywell Junior 12.3
Belleville 9.4
Wix 25.6
Alderbrook 29.8
High View 49

National: 24.6

I don't know. But what % of kids at Honeywell live in social housing? A tiny % I bet.

Has all the social housing been sold off then?

I don't know why people think state schools are so diverse? As unless there's some fiddling going on with the catchment area, then everybody at Honeywell must live in a c. £1.5m house (or a flat worth the best part of £1m) within a few hundred meters of the school. So I'm not sure how diverse they can really be.

If they were really poor families they wouldn't live BTC, and if they were really rich families they would go to private schools. So all this banging on about diversity at Honeywell I think must be nonsense as I suspect vast majority people there are from very similar BTC backgrounds, even if a tiny minority are less well off.

Firstly I should point out that not all kids from Prep School are tutored. It may depend on what senior school you are looking at. Prep schools are pretty good at knowing your child and which senior school they would be best suited.

If the parents have high hopes of a particularly strong Senior School then some may tutor but that also depends on how academic your child is.

Prep Schools are more homework based but this is more about the teacher being able to reinforce the work & see how the child is understanding the topic. Of course it is lovely if the state school gives little homework but, unless your child is naturally clever, if not, the child could end up way behind other children.

A lot of state school parents do Kumon (much cheaper than a tutor) but kids are doing 20 mins or more of work every night and parents have to mark. Then kids still have to do school homework on top. I did Kumon for a couple of years and it’s full on. Personally I saw both of my kids thrive at Private School so it was worth the sacrifice.

Hello&Thanks,

we are surely thinking about going private for secondary.

We know that the tutoring is a must, but we are wondering if attending a prep school would make such a massive difference purely in terms of broad education (let's put aside sport or all the extra after-school activities).

miga - it depends what schools you are aiming at for secondary

If Bolingbroke then you need to be at a feeder school

If private then you need to be tutoring from year 5 at the latest - either DIY or pay someone

The majority of kids at the prep schools are being tutored too

I have read this conversation with great interest since we are in a similar situation.

We have a child at one of the BTC state school. He is an adorable little boy, not particularly academic or exceptionally gifted. Obviously we started being concerned regarding the secondary school admission process and we wonder if we should move him to a prep school to facilitate the 11+ process. He is not at the top of his class, and he will surely be one of those left-behind children not pushed to achieve.

The question for us is if it is worth moving him from the school he truly loves, that we take 2 minutes to reach and go for one of the prep schools (the closest being at least 20mins far away). Is it worth spending £20K per year and having to deal with the extra 4 weeks of holidays that private school have (being both full time working parents). Is it truly worthy? My heart says that this is all insane and there is no good reason I should take him away from a school where he is exceptionally happy and settled. But my brain says we are underestimating the situation and, if my child will not be admitted to a good school, we will regret our choice in few years time.

We are truly torn.

K1999 - the reason Honeywell hasn't had an inspection report for years is that the school was judged by Ofsted to be 'Outstanding' in an earlier report, I think around 10 years ago. There was then a follow up inspection in about 2010, which simply confirmed the previous rating. Since that report was published, Ofsted rules changed to the effect that any school judged Outstanding would no longer be subject to routine testing. The exception to this would be in the case that independent concerns were raised about the school, in which case Ofsted would respond accordingly.

However there is a recent inspection report on the School's Out Club at Honeywell, which was far from flattering.

I agree with you based on our experience, Honeywell is great if your children are bright, self reliant and quite academic. The top pupils are given extra support. The middle ground are pretty much left to get on with it and be average; the challenged do not receive quite enough support. Also agree that mixing classes around would benefit everyone - parents included ! It does get pretty cliquey and as you say, if neither child nor parent likes/fits in with the clique, it can be a bit miserable at times. Believe me, there are plenty of social climbing parents at Honeywell - not to mention a band of smug parents who relish the fact that they are saving on private school fees. I think the nadir for this was when the school featured in Tatler's list of top state schools - something which the 'egalitarian' headmaster advertised on the school website immediately.

It is what it is, not bad for a state school but as mentioned before, much due to its catchment area.

I'm just curious, but is there a reason Honeywell don't have an ofsted report since 2010? Does that mean they haven't been checked, or have just chosen not to post on the website?

Apologies if I am repeating anything already said. I haven't had the chance to read through all the posts.

Both of my kids started at Honeywell. My son was struggling as easy to be ignored in a large class. The teacher at the time didn't seem that interested in the kids who were not doing as well, so we moved him to an all boys private prep school. That school then got him tested and he is dyslexic, so we made the right decision as state schools don't have the provisions to provide a lot of learning support. He also got to do loads of sport, which he loved, and we watched him thrive, so I know we made the right decision.

We moved our daughter to a private school in Y5 so we could miss the bun fight for private secondary schools in year 6. She is much stronger academically but has also thrived.

On reflection, I would say that Honeywell is a great school, as long as your kids are bright. The parents (myself included) ended up using Kumon to help with english and maths, and there were a lot of Honeywell parents there whenever I went every week. We never used a tutor but I knew a lot of parents who were booked to use a tutor (or were already using one) by year 4. So you will need to be prepared to put the work in to keep your child on the ball, as the private schools and good secondary schools will expect high results in the entrance exams.

In Honeywell the classes stay the same all the way through the school from Reception to Year 6. Having seen the private schools change the classes every year, it means the kids end up knowing everyone in their year, and are learning to make new friends all the time. I found that kids in the same class every year could get very clicky (and so could the parents). Great if you get on with your class mates and parents, but if not, you've got a long time ahead. So much more refreshing to have a class change every year.

I was worried what the private school parents would be like. You are always going to get certain parents who are social climbers, but I was also pleasantly surprised to meet some really lovely, normal parents as well. It may also depend on what school you go to, as I do know some have a reputation for being very competitive.

Hope this helps.

Local Yokel - you make a good point and in spite of the fact I only made a comment on this topic for the benefit of those who need information, I am minded to reply to your specific points.

I would point out the obvious, but neglected, fact that most of the people who go private - whether it be schooling, medical care, transport etc. - are doing so largely at their own additional cost. They are already (one has to make this assumption) paying higher taxes than those who suffer 'social deprivation', some of which tax revenue goes into funding the state provision of basic services which those on subsistence incomes need.

The affluent are just as entitled to use our NHS, state schools etc as anyone else. Yet, despite this, they pay extra to have access to private services such as education and medical care. They receive no tax rebate from the government for the state provision they have relinquished - in effect, they are paying double.

Many parents I have met who could afford to go private all the way opted for Honeywell as they wanted their children to experience a truly local school and to mix with other children across the socio-economic spectrum. Honeywell doesn't choose pupils on the basis of their family's economic circumstances, but purely on the basis of residential proximity to the school. I have always thought - rightly or wrongly - that one of the main reasons for the school's ranking is precisely due to its situation in a 'good neighbourhood'. If you put the same school in a troubled inner city area, who is to say that it would do as well ?

But in any event, it would be wrong to discriminate against families who have a comfortable economic profile. All that would do is to force those families to migrate entirely to the private sector. Then, there would be no mixing of classes and creeds and surely, we would all be worse off as a result.